Strong Start to the Week

Harry Boxer The Technical Trader

The stock market indices were very strong today to start the week with big gaps up and strong runs early morning, midday they came down three or four times and tested support, unable to break them, and then rallied in the afternoon, finishing near the highs for the day for more new all-time highs.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 118.95 at 20,743.00. The S&P 500 was up 14.22 at 2365.38. The Nasdaq 100 was up 26.00 at 5350.73. All three closed near the highs for the day.

Advance-declines were 21 to 8 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 2 positive the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 1/2 to 1 positive on New York, total volume of 3 1/2 billion shares traded. The Nasdaq traded 1.9 billion shares and had a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were many point-plus gainers. Priceline.com (PCLN) was up 9.60 to 1647.00, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) up 3.59 to 831.66, Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 98 cents to 136.70, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) 11.37 to 856.44, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 38 cents to 142.60.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) bounced 45 cents to 185.62, Facebook, Inc. (FB) gained 19 cents to 133.72, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) popped 1.78 to 36.62.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) jumped 5.16 to 277.39.

Other stocks to the upside included Editas Medicine Inc. (EDIT) up 1.25 to 27.27, Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS) up 2.50 to 22.41, and Shopify Inc. (SHOP) 1.56 to 63.08. All three are swing trades.

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) gained 3.84 to 111.07, and United States Steel Corp. (X) advanced 1.77 to 41.57.

On the downside, the only point-plus loser was Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS) down 2.81 to 62.99.

Checking TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) climbed 88 cents, or 21%, to 4.99, on 1.4 million shares traded.

Eyegate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (EYEG), on a contract deal, exploded 2.06, or 126%, to 3.70, on 30 million shares traded or 5500% more volume than average. Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CNBX) rose 2.45, or 61%, to 6.45, on 6.8 million shares traded, which is an all-time record volume for that stock. Community Health Systems, Inc. (CYH) popped 2.33, or 34%, to 9.23, on 24 million shares traded.

Tronox Limited (TROX) jumped 5.05, or 35%, to 19.47, on 6.1 million shares traded. Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (LL) ran 2.62, or 17%, to 17.98, on 6 million shares traded. Versartis, Inc. (VSAR) managed to eke out 2.60, or 16%, to 18.95.

The VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN (DGAZ) closed up 1.40, or 26%, to 6.82, on 47 million shares traded as gas reached record lows today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, after they gapped up and had a strong run in the morning, the indices came down midday, consolidated, tested support several times, held, and then ran up sharply in the afternoon to make nominal new highs and close near them.

Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trading!

Author

Harry Boxer

The Technical Trader

Regular columnist on ADVFN, Stockhouse, and DecisionPoint, among many sites, and regular guest on WinningOnWallStreet, Marketviews.tv, KFWB-Radio Los Angeles, and more. Frequent guest columnist on CBSMarketWatch.

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